Rajyalakshmi General Stores

One Town in Vijayawada is always humid. Our shop is inside the Kaleshwara Rao Market at Shop No 15. This market is a huge place and it can be quite confusing if you aren't from around here. We have been in this spot for years. It’s a general store, so we have everything from spices to plastic buckets. The smell of the market is a mix of everything—dried fish, fresh flowers, and incense. It’s very loud from morning until night. We have to talk loudly just to be heard over the crowd. The walls of the shop are lined with wooden racks that go all the way to the ceiling. I use a long stick with a hook to get things down from the top. We see a lot of different people every day. Some are just passing through the market, others live just a few streets away. The floor is old stone and stays a bit cool. I spend my time weighing out tamarind or counting out change. We don't use any fancy computers, just a simple notebook to keep track of things. When the rain comes, the market gets even more crowded as people rush under the roofs. It’s a bit chaotic but it’s home. We just do our work and go back to our houses at the end of the day.